Plotly, a local data visualization company, today announced $1.7 million in funding for its product called Dash. The cash is coming from Scale AI, the innovation hub investing in Canadian AI and supply chain technology.

Plotly will use the grant to accelerate development of Dash, the company’s platform for operationalizing AI models. CEO Jack Parmer said a good example is when a huge tech company creates an AI model. The problem is that the average business person who wants to run the model may not have the required Python knowledge to run it. So they use a Dash user interface to run the Python model in realtime and get the model results.

“We’re very honoured and thankful that Scale AI is rewarding our work with this grant. We’re excited to continue to expand Plotly’s Montreal headquarters with the help of this grant. It’s a very exciting time for us,” Parmer told MTLinTECH.

Dash: what does it do?

Dash, an open core offering, enables the development of interactive analytic applications in Python or R and is used by companies worldwide to enable AI insight and knowledge sharing. Dash provides data scientists with a platform for creating and operationalizing AI and machine learning models in a highly repeatable and scalable process. With Dash, data scientists can quickly and easily create custom UIs so that others in the organization can directly interact with complex models and data without needing to understand the underlying code.

“As companies continue to invest in AI, the need to provide access to underlying models and outcomes is crucial. This is especially true in verticals like supply chain logistics,” said Parmer. “Today, Dash is helping companies operationalize these investments so that business teams and data science teams are working in lock step. With the added investment from Scale AI, Plotly will be able to quickly extend these capabilities and make them even more beneficial for the development of AI and supply chain technology.”

Funding will support local collabs

The investment from Scale AI will support development collaborations between Plotly and several Canadian companies. They include Hydro-Québec, Air Canada, Standard and Poors, Dex Clothing, and others. Those collaborations will develop AI supply chain analytics solutions with Dash.

At Hydro-Québec, for example, development will center around Dash applications for predictive analytics. This is in an effort to identify where potential problems in the grid are likely to occur. It can allow for faster response times and preventative maintenance.

At Dex Clothing, Dash development will focus on applying AI to better manage inventory forecasting.

“Machine learning-enabled Dash applications will help us better align inventory levels to Customer demand. Dash is accelerating the rate at which we can identify the best selling products to meet Customer replenishment needs,” said Rani Hawli, COO at Dex Clothing.

“Scale AI’s mission is to enhance productivity across industries through the integration of AI in supply chains,” said Julien Billot, CEO at Scale AI.

“We’re excited to invest in this project with Plotly, an established provider of innovative open source and enterprise analytic solutions. Plotly’s commitment to partnering with Canadian businesses to speed the development of advanced AI solutions will help lift the profile of Québec businesses. It will also continue to distinguish Canadian leadership in AI.”

Free technology!

In line with its foundation as an open core company, Plotly will make this technology broadly available through over 30 free, open source AI-focused application templates. Plotly will also offer more than 10,000 hours of training on Dash to Scale AI consortium partners. The development of high availability capabilities will be available through Plotly’s Dash Enterprise offering.

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